STATEMENT
Belfast based painter Colin Murphy invites you into a world where the everyday becomes extraordinary. From the quiet glow of charity shop ceramics to the hidden wings and backstages of theatres. Fragments of life captured with intimacy, warmth, and light. Using a mix of direct painting, delicate layers of translucent oil, and a nod to contemporary digital framing, Colin’s work asks us to slow down – to really see the things we often overlook.
What, if any meaning, the viewer reads into his paintings is entirely up to them.
Colin has work in many private collections and in 2025 his work was purchased by The Office of Public Works for the Irish state collection.
EDUCATION
2024 - 25 Painting Resolution, RHA School, Dublin
1987 - 90 BA (Hons) Design, Belfast School of Art, University of Ulster
1986 - 87 Foundation studies, School of Art and Design, Bristol Polytechnic
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
Realist, Cnoc Bui Arts Centre, Union Hall, Co. Cork, Ireland
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Sound and Vision, Warchild Fundraiser, Iconic Images Gallery, London
Art Riddler, One Charlemount Sq, Dublin
Resolve 25, RHA School, Dublin
195th RHA Annual, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
2024
Emerge, TUD, Dublin
143rd RUA Annual show, Ulster Museum, Belfast
Main exhibition, Boyle Arts Festival, King House, Boyle
194th RHA Annual, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
2023
OXO, Outset Gallery, Galway
Art on a Postcard Winter Auction, Gathering, London
255th RA Summer exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
193rd RHA Annual, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
2022
142nd RUA Annual show, Ulster Museum, Belfast
192nd RHA Annual, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
169th RWA Annual exhibition, Royal Western Academy, Bristol
2021
141st RUA Annual show, Ulster Museum, Belfast
191st RHA Annual, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
2020
252nd RA Summer exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
140th RUA Annual show, Ulster Museum, Belfast
190th RHA Annual, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
NEAC Annual show, Mall Galleries, London
Self, Espacio Gallery, London
2019
139th RUA Annual show, Ulster Museum, Belfast
189th RHA Annual, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
AWARDS
2021
Outstanding artist prize 141st RUA Annual show, Ulster Museum, Belfast
MEDIA
2023
The Secret Artists, (Documentary) The Rocks Productions and Lennox Productions for BBC Northern Ireland